if they want to do that, russia could work with the religion it matt government of ukraine which it has pledged to do. it cannot only permit but must encourage international monitors to deploy throughout ukraine. these are the people that actually identify legitimate threats and we are asking, together with the government of ukraine, together with european community for large numbers of observers to come in here and monitor the situation and be the arbiters of truth versus fiction. russia, if it wanted to help deescalate this situation, could return its troops to the barracks, live by the 1997 base agreement and deescalate, rather than expand. now, we would prefer that. i come here today at the instruction of president obama to make it absolutely clear the united states of america would prefer to see this deescalated, managed through the structures of legal institutions, international institutions. we have worked many years in order to be able to deal with this kind of crisis. if russia does not choose to deescalate, if it is not willing to work directly with the government of ukraine a